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Record Warmth This Week

March 13, 2015

Record Warmth This Week:

Hard
to believe that the temperature was -40 F at Cotton, MN last week.
Monday, March 10th brought record warm temperatures to many parts of the
state. Bright sunny skies, the absence of snow cover, and south winds
produced record afternoon high temperatures motivating many people to take a
walk or afternoon bike ride. Some of those record high temperatures
included:
69 F at Amboy;
67F at New Ulm;
66 F in the Twin Cities (tied the record from 2012), Luverne, Waseca, Tracy,
and Windom;
65F at Marshall;
63F at Pipestone, Theilman, and Worthington (tied the record from 1900);
61F at St Cloud, Aitkin, and Moose Lake;
59F at Madison;
58F at Grand Forks, ND, Duluth, Fargo (tied 1911), Browns Valley, and Grand
Portage;
57F at Cloquet and Ada;
56F at Wheaton and Brainerd (tied 1977)

The unusual warmth persisted, keeping overnight temperatures in the 30s F which melted snow cover, and began to thaw the soils. Yet more record high temperatures were reached on Thursday, March 12th, including:70 °F at Luverne68 °F at Windom67 °F at Browns Valley and Lamberton66 °F at Redwood Falls (tied 1910)56 °F at International Falls77 °F at Sioux Falls, SD63 °F at Fargo, ND

Many
soils in southern and western counties have lost frost down to 6-8 inches,
while there is still a deeper layer of frost that will take more time to thaw
out.

Farmers Thinking of Planting Season:

The
onset of spring-like weather has many Minnesota farmers thinking about field
work. The U2U (Useful to Usable) Extension specialists in the Midwest have updated their
quarterly newsletter with many tips for farmers to consider in planting and
fertilizing this year's crop. An array of information and resources can be found at the U2U Web Site. More specifically a tool to assess corn planting and development can be found there as well.

Loss of Arctic Sea Ice:

The
National Snow and Ice Data Center recently showed the downward trend in Arctic
Sea ice which has prevailed throughout the winter of 2014-2015. The
overall extent of sea ice going into the month of March was at a record low, as
shown in their graphic.

Also
available from NOAA this week is an interesting article written by Dr. Dennis
Hartmann of the University of Washington Department of Atmospheric
Sciences. He writes about the linkage between climate patterns in the
Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and the recent weather patterns across North America, most notably the past two winters. One of his conclusions
is...."while we are fairly sure that tropical SSTs are the apparent cause
of the unusual nature of our past couple of winters, we do not know for sure
whether this is just part of the natural variability of climate, or whether
climate change is favoring the positive phase of the North Pacific Mode of SST
variability."

Four
Tropical Cyclones were being tracked in the Pacific Ocean this week. The
most powerful storm was named Pam was north of the islands of New Caledonia producing wind
speeds up to 160 mph and sea wave heights of 45-50 feet. It was expected
to bring damaging winds, high seas, and heavy rains to these islands this
weekend before dissipating at sea north of Auckland, New Zealand early next
week. A flood watch was in effect along the coastal regions of
northeastern Queensland in Australia due to the presence of Tropical Storm
Nathan. Thankfully it was expected to move east out to sea over the
weekend. On the western coast of Australia, near Learmonth Tropical Storm
Olwyn was bringing heavy rains and strong winds. It was expected to move
towards Perth over the weekend. And a 4th weather system, Tropical Storm
Bavi was in the North Pacific Ocean gaining strength and moving towards
Guam. It was expected to remain modest in scale, but bring significant
rains to Guam early next week.

The
United Kingdom Meteorological Office announced this week a new forecasting
service for the construction industries. This site specific weather
information comes in two forms: located-based monthly planning averages; and
location-based monthly downtime summaries. It is expected to be a popular
service as the spring-time construction season gets underway.

In Earth and Space Science News this week (EOS) is an excellent discussion about high latitude volcanic eruptions and their impact on climate anomalies. Their signal is clearly detectable.

MPR Listener Question:

How
often are the winds calm in Minnesota?

Answer:

When
wind speed is less than 1 mph the observation is noted as
"calm." In the absence of an anemometer, some observations of
wind are recorded based on the Beaufort wind scale. On the Beaufort wind
scale, when smoke is observed to rise vertically or the sea surface or lake
surface is mirror-like, the wind is recorded as "calm."

The frequency of calm conditions varies significantly around the state.
For the Twin Cities the local climate records from the MSP airport show that a
calm wind condition is reported only about 1.4 percent of the time, or about
123 hours per year. The month of highest frequency is July, when nearly
2.4 percent of the time a calm wind condition is reported. The month with
the lowest frequency is January with 0.8 percent occurrence of calms. For
the current month March, the frequency of calm is only about 1.2 percent of the
time. In terms of the daily pattern of wind speed, calms are reported
most frequently between 11 pm and 5 am, especially in the summer months of July
and August.

Twin Cities Almanac for March 13th:

The
average MSP high temperature for this date is 36 degrees F (plus or minus 11
degrees F standard deviation), while the average low is 21 degrees F (plus or
minus 12 degrees F standard deviation).

Average dew point for March 13th is 22 degrees F, with a maximum of 54 degrees
F in 1995 and a minimum of -11 degrees F in 1960.

All-Time State Records for March 13th:

The
state record high temperature for this date is 77 degrees F at Mankato (Blue
Earth County) in 1990. The state record low temperature for this date is -36
degrees F at Campbell (Wilkin County) in 1896 and at Embarrass (St Louis
County) in 2009. State record precipitation for this date is 1.85 inches
at Winona (Winona County) in 1997; and the state record snowfall for this date
is 18.0 inches at Duluth in 1917 and at Cloquet (Carlton County) in 1940.

Past Weather Features:

A significant winter storm visited
the state over March 12-13, 1940 bringing rain, sleet, and snow. Schools
were closed as were many highways. Air traffic and streetcar service were
disrupted in the Twin Cities. Many observers reported over a foot of snow,
while Collegeville, Windom, and Minnesota City received over 20 inches.

March 12-13, 1990 brought an early
taste of spring to Minnesota as afternoon temperatures soared into the 60s and
70s F. it was 61 °F as far north as Detroit Lakes, while in the south and
west at least a dozen cities reported temperatures of 70 °F or higher.

March 12-13, 2006 brought a mixture
of rain, sleet, and snow to southeastern Minnesota. There was even some
thunder as well. Observers in the southeastern cities reported total
snowfall amounts ranging from 13 to 21 inches. Children were given a
"snow day" off school on Monday, March 13th.

March 13, 2009 may have been the
coldest in state history. as 14 climate stations in the state reported
morning minimum temperatures of -25 °F or colder. With two feet of snow
on the ground the daytime temperature rose no higher than 9 °F at Red Lake
Falls.

Outlook:

A mostly sunny weekend with
temperatures continuing to be 15-20 degrees F warmer than normal through
Monday. Cooler by next Tuesday and Wednesday with temperatures falling
back to near normal. Generally dry throughout the period.